1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel chemical compounds, useful as optical indicators of cytochrome P450 activity, and especially to fluorogenic indicators of cytochrome P450 activity. More specifically, the invention relates to ether-containing compounds of the generic structure Y-L-Q, and to methods for assaying substrates and inhibitors of cytochrome P450 enzymes using these compounds in traditional assay formats, as well as in high and ultra high throughput screening formats.
2. Description of the Related Art
The cytochrome P450 enzyme (CYP450) family comprises oxidase enzymes involved in the xenobiotic metabolism of hydrophobic drugs, carcinogens, and other potentially toxic compounds and metabolites circulating in blood. It is known that the liver is the major organ for xenobiotic metabolism, containing high levels of the most important CYP450 mixed-function oxygenases. There are numerous human P450 enzyme sub-families, often termed xe2x80x9cisozymesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cisoforms.xe2x80x9d Those of the CYP 3A4, CYP 2D6, CYP 2C, CYP 2A1 and CYP 2E1 subfamilies are known to be important in drug metabolism. See, e.g., Murray, M., 23 Clin. Pharmacokinetics 132-46 (1992). Of these isoforms, CYP 3A4 is by far the major isoform in liver and the small intestines, comprising 30% and 70% respectively of the total CYP450 protein in those tissues. Based primarily on in vitro studies, it has been estimated that the metabolism of 40% to 50% of all drugs used in humans involve CYP 3A4 catalyzed oxidations. See Thummel, K. E. and Wilkinson, G. R., In Vitro and In Vivo Drug Interactions Involving Human CYP 3A, 38 Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 389-430 (1998).
Efficient metabolism of a candidate drug by a CYP450 enzyme may lead to poor pharmacokinetic properties, while drug candidates that act as potent inhibitors of a CYP450 enzyme can cause undesirable drugxe2x80x94drug interactions when administered with another drug that interacts with the same CYP450. See, e.g., Peck, C. C. et al., Understanding Consequences of Concurrent Therapies, 269 JAMA 1550-52 (1993). Accordingly, early, reliable indication that a candidate drug interacts with (i.e., is a substrate or inhibitor of) a CYP450 may greatly shorten the discovery cycle of pharmaceutical research and development, and thus may reduce the time required to market the candidate drug. Consequently, such earlier-available, reliable CYP450 pharmokinetic information may result in greatly reduced drug development costs and/or increased profits from earlier market entrance. Furthermore, such earlier-available, reliable CYP450 pharmokinetic information may allow a candidate drug to reach the public sooner, at lower costs than otherwise feasible. Accordingly, extensive pharmacokinetic studies of drug interactions in humans have recently become an integral part of the pharmaceutical drug development and safety assessment process. See, e.g., Parkinson, A., 24 Toxicological Pathology 45-57 (1996). Methodologies are therefore desired that will allow for (1) the more rapid acquisition of information about drug candidate interactions with CYP450 enzymes, earlier in the drug discovery process than presently feasible, and hence will allow for (2) the earlier elimination of unsuitable compounds and chemical series from further development efforts.
The need for information regarding drug candidate/CYP450 interactions has created a concurrent need for assays sensitive enough to test, in a cost-effective manner, vast arrays of compounds for interactions with the major human CYP450 enzymes involved in drug metabolism. Certain known techniques, including (1) CYP450 inhibition assays in which the metabolism of known CYP450 metabolite in the presence of the test compound, followed by quenching of the enzyme reaction and analysis of the extent of metabolism, (2) CYP450 metabolism of radioactively labeled test compound analogues, and (3) in vivo xe2x80x9ccassettexe2x80x9d dosing of animals (usually rats, dogs, or monkeys), see Berman, J. et al., Simultaneous Pharmacokinetic Screening of a Mixture of Compounds in the Dog using API LC/MS/MS Analysis for Increased Throughput, 40 J. Medicinal Chemistry, 827-29 (1997), are not amenable to adaptation to miniaturization, or to the other requirements of high or ultra high throughput screening.
However, optical assays employing, for example, chromophores or luminescent phenols, and especially fluorescence-based assays are amendable to adaptation to miniaturization and high or ultra high throughput screening. Particularly, fluorescence-based assays have been used in pharmacokinetic studies of drug interactions in humans, more particularly in assays involving human hepatocyte cultures, where the number of available cells is severely limited. See Donato, M. T. et al, 213 Anal. Biochem. 29-33 (1993).
Specifically, fluorogenic cytochrome P450 substrates have been commercially available for a number of years from, for example, Molecular Probes, Inc. (Eugene Oreg.), SIGMA (St. Louis, Mo.), and more recently, GENTEST Corp. (Woburn, Mass.). Generally, these known fluorogenic CYP450 substrates are ether derivatives of well-known phenoxide type fluorophores, including: 7-hydroxycoumarin, fluorescein, and resorufin. Thus, generally, the CYP450 enzymes will catalyze a dealkylation reaction and convert the relatively non-fluorescent ether substrate into a relatively more highly-fluorescent phenoxide-containing product.
However, even the most recently developed fluorogenic CYP450 substrates either have relatively poor kinetics, or the enzymatic products do not have the desired physical and optical properties to allow reduction of the amount of enzyme needed to levels that would make large scale screening affordable and feasible. More specifically, these fluorogenic CYP450 substrates exhibit relatively poor turnover rates, poor aqueous solubility, low extinction coefficients and quantum yields, and/or weak fluorescence of the resultant phenolic dye. Furthermore, certain of these fluorogenic CYP450 substrates are excited in the ultraviolet, as opposed to visible, spectrum and therefore their signals are often masked by background stemming from the unreacted test compound. Finally, most of these fluorogenic CYP450 substrates are not specific for the CYP450 isozyme they are meant to detect, and therefore cannot be used for measurement in human liver microsomal preparations, a preferred analytical method that avoids potential artifacts caused by the alternative method of using an insect cell microsomal preparation. See Palamanda J. R. et al., Validation of a rapid microtiter plate assay to conduct cytochrome P450 2D6 enzyme inhibition studies, 3 Drug Discovery Today, 466-470 (1998). For these and other reasons, there exists an unfulfilled need for optical, and especially fluorogenic, CYP450 substrates that exhibit CYP450 isozyme-specificity, improved kinetics, and yield enzymatic products having improved physical and optical properties for use in the screening of CYP450/drug candidate interactions, especially for use in high or ultra high throughput screening, and as part of the drug discovery process.
The invention provides a compound, useful as an optical probe, modulator or sensor of the activity of at least one cytochrome P450 enzyme. The optical probe of the invention is a compound having the generic structure Y-L-Q, wherein Y is selected from the group consisting of Q as herein defined (such that the probe has the general structure Q-Lxe2x80x2-Q), and saturated C1-C20 alkyl, unsaturated C1-C20 alkenyl, unsaturated C1-C20 alkynyl, substituted saturated C1-C20 alkyl, substituted unsaturated C1-C20 alkenyl, substituted unsaturated C1-C20 alkynyl, C1-C20 cycloalkyl, C1-C20 cycloalkenyl, substituted saturated C1-C20 cycloalkyl, substituted unsaturated C1-C20 cycloalkenyl, aryl, substituted aryl, heteroaryl and substituted heteroaryl; L is selected from the group of (xe2x80x94OCR2H)pxe2x80x94, (xe2x80x94O(substituted ortho-phenyl)CR2H)pxe2x80x94, (xe2x80x94O(substituted meta-phenyl)CR2H)pxe2x80x94, and (xe2x80x94O(substituted para-phenyl)CR2H)pxe2x80x94, and Lxe2x80x2 is selected from the group of xe2x80x94(CR4H)(xe2x80x94OCR2H)pxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94(CR4H)(xe2x80x94O(substituted ortho-phenyl)CR2H)pxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94(CR4H)(xe2x80x94O(substituted meta-phenyl)CR2H)pxe2x80x94, and xe2x80x94(CR4H)(xe2x80x94O(substituted para-phenyl)CR2H)pxe2x80x94, wherein for each p, each R2 is separately selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, saturated C1-C20 alkyl, unsaturated C1-C20 alkenyl, unsaturated C1-C20 alkynyl, substituted saturated C1-C20 alkyl, substituted unsaturated C1-C20 alkenyl, substituted unsaturated C1-C20 alkynyl, C1-C20 cycloalkyl, C1-C20 cycloalkenyl, substituted saturated C1-C20 cycloalkyl, substituted unsaturated C1-C20 cycloalkenyl, aryl, substituted aryl, heteroaryl, substituted heteroaryl and p is a positive integer no greater than twelve; and Q is a chemical moiety that gives rise to optical properties in its hydroxy or hyrdoxylate, phenol or phenoxide form that are different from the optical properties that arise from its ether form. Most preferably, p is one, R2 is hydrogen, and Q is the ether form of a phenoxide fluorophore.
The invention also provides methods for using the optical sensor compounds of the invention to determine whether a candidate drug, or class of candidate drugs, is a CYP450 substrate and/or whether the candidate drug, or class of candidate drugs, is a CYP450 inhibitor, and related methods for selecting a candidate drug, and for formulating and administering that drug, having determined that the drug will not be metabolized by at least one CYP450 enzyme and/or that the drug will not act as an inhibitor of at least one CYP450 enzyme, and, thus, having determined that the drug will not, respectively, be too efficiently metabolized by a CYP 450 enzyme and/or elicit an unfavorable drugxe2x80x94drug interaction. Methods of selecting the candidate drug of the present invention may be by conventional methods or may be part of high or ultra high throughput screening of libraries of drug candidates.